1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to custom ordered furniture and the packaging of such furniture for shipment and storage. More particularly, the invention relates to fully upholstered, ready-to-assemble furniture which may be custom ordered by a consumer, packaged by the seller for shipment to the consumer by a parcel delivery service, and then assembled by the consumer from the packaged components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ready-to-assemble furniture is furniture which is packaged for shipment and storage in disassembled form, with assembly to be done by the consumer or end user. Examples of existing ready-to-assemble non-upholstered furniture include bookcases, television stands, and simple chairs and benches. Furthermore, mass merchandised ready-to-assemble furniture is expected to be rather less expensive to the consumer than comparable pre-assembled furniture or to have distinctive functional features generally not available with its pre-assembled counterpart.
The genre of ready-to-assemble furniture packaged for mass merchandising retail sale and home delivery has generally been limited to pieces of furniture which are utilitarian or hard-surfaced, and which are available in only limited colors or surface finishes. As such, prior ready-to-assemble furniture does not satisfy the need for primary pieces of fully upholstered furniture which may be custom ordered by the consumer, and either delivered to the household of the consumer by a parcel delivery service, or taken home by the consumer from a retail location.
What is needed is comfortable, fully upholstered, ready-to-assemble, and inexpensive furniture of high quality which may be packaged in a compact, easily storable and transportable way, for distribution by mass merchandising and home delivery channels and which can be custom ordered by the purchaser to accommodate a wide variety of consumer decorating tastes.